Remote controls for remotely operating televisions, VCR's, stereos, and the like are well known. Such remote controls typically comprise a hand-held housing upon which a plurality of controls, i.e., typically buttons, are disposed.
Such remote controls are commonly utilized with program listings and the like to which a user refers in order to determine which channel to view, listen to, or record. The entries of such program listings and the like are frequently printed in comparatively small type, making reading thereof difficult, particularly for the elderly and those with impaired eyesight.
As such, it would be beneficial to provide a means for enhancing a user's ability to read the printed matter of such program listings and the like so as to facilitate easier use thereof.
Additionally, it is a common practice for a user to watch television, use a VCR, and/or listen to a stereo in a situation wherein the lighting conditions are insufficient for comfortable reading of program listings and the like. For example, people frequently watch television while resting upon a bed with the lights turned low or off.
In such situations of inadequate lighting, it is also difficult to identify the individual controls of the remote control, thus making operation thereof difficult. For instance, when it is desired to change a television channel utilizing the remote control, one must frequently press several of the buttons of a remote control before the correct button is found. Pressing the wrong buttons occasionally has an undesirable effect such as increasing or decreasing the volume.
In such circumstances, it is generally undesirable to turn on the lights or otherwise increase illumination. It is often inconvenient to turn on the lights, particularly in those circumstances wherein it is necessary to leave the bed and walk across the room to a light switch. Furthermore, one may desire to maintain such a low level of lighting so as not to disturb another person who is resting or sleeping nearby.
As such, it is desirable to provide illumination means for a remote control wherein the illumination means allows the user to easily read printed matter such as program listings and also allows the user to readily identify the individual controls of the remote control. It is also desirable to provide a means for magnifying or enhancing a user's ability to read printed matter such as television listings, regardless of the level of illumination.